Home-based tongue strengthening exercise in patients with sarcopenic dysphagia

A portable, home-based treatment strategy could help strengthen swallowing-related oropharyngeal muscles in older patients with sarcopenic dysphagia.

In a study published in the Journal of Oral Rehabilitation, researchers randomly assigned community-dwelling older patients with sarcopenic dysphagia to undergo a home-based tongue-strengthening exercise with a portable tool or no tongue-strengthening exercise. The tool was designed to improve oropharyngeal muscles by requiring participants to contract the suprahyoid and tongue muscles.

Compared with those who didn’t follow the exercise, the patients who did exhibited greater suprahyoid muscle thickness and tongue thickness and strength. The portable tool for tongue strengthening was also affordable and found to be easy to use among the study participants.

The findings indicated the potential efficacy of the home-based tongue-strengthening exercise in this patient population.

Read more: Journal of Oral Rehabilitation

The article presented here is intended to inform you about the broader media perspective on dentistry, regardless of its alignment with the ADA's stance. It is important to note that publication of an article does not imply the ADA's endorsement, agreement, or promotion of its content.